Glen Farley has covered the Patriots for The Enterprise since the Raymond Berry regime.

Monday's conference call with the coaches

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By Glen Farley

Glen Farley has covered sports for The Enterprise since 1978. His time on the Patriots beat dates back to the final year of the Raymond Berry regime, 1989. You could say his roots lie in Foxboro. He once won an award for a piece he wrote on the sod
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Glen Farley has covered sports for The Enterprise since 1978. His time on the Patriots beat dates back to the final year of the Raymond Berry regime, 1989. You could say his roots lie in Foxboro. He once won an award for a piece he wrote on the sod at Gillette Stadium.

BB: It’s a good feeling this morning after the outcome of the game yesterday – being able to win the division and being 5-0 in the AFC East, so that’s good. We’ll turn the page here and obviously move onto Houston. They’re a real good football team and it will be a big challenge for us this week. [We] have a little extra time to prepare for them, which I’m sure we’ll need. It wasn’t perfect down there yesterday. There were certainly a lot of things we can do better but give Miami credit, I thought they played hard and played well. They caused some of the problems; it wasn’t all us not doing well. They performed well and created problems for us with their players and some of the schemes that they did. It’s good to win; ready to move on and face the next challenge this week with Houston.

Q: After getting a chance to look at the film, how would you assess the work of Kyle Arrington yesterday, particularly against Davone Bess?

BB: Bess is a real good player. He’s one of the best receivers we see inside in the slot. I thought Kyle played well; really had solid game in terms of coverage, tackling, made a play on the blitz. But again, I think that’s also a function of the overall team defense. Sometimes a pass rush helps out the defensive backs. Sometimes the coverage helps out the pass rush and all that. Overall defensively, I thought we for the most part did a fairly solid job. We had some plays that weren’t the way we’d like for them to be but overall it was a pretty consistent game for us – good on third down, a couple stops in the red area, forced field good opportunities. Kyle certainly held up his end of it and did a good job, as I said, in all phases of the game, not just coverage – run force, opportunities he had to rush. It was solid.

Q: When your offense does not play up to its usual level where you put up big numbers, are you confident that the defense can carry the team and be a dominant defense?

BB: Each week, every game plays out differently. We don’t go into any game thinking, ‘It’s going to be this way or it’s going to be that way. This is going to be a 50-49 game or it’s going to be a 3-2 game or that kind of thing.’ We just go in there and try to do the best we can to execute whatever plays or whatever situations come up. When the game plays itself out, it plays itself out. Ultimately at the end, it comes down to being able to make the plays you need to make to win the game. I thought offensively, that was really a big key for us in this game, was when the game got to a certain point there in the fourth quarter, that we played our best football and we controlled the ball, we drove it the length of the field, we were able to go up by two scores. That really changed the outcome of the game. We’ve been in those situations before where we’ve thrown up a lot of big numbers, as you put it, or scored some points and then get to that point in the game and go three-and-out. So, it’s really about being able to do the things that you need to do to win the game and I thought that’s what we did offensively. We did it as a total team, like our punt coverage when we were backed up. We made a number of plays we needed to make at critical times. Certainly offensively and on that last drive, it was a great drive at a critical point in the game, it’s what we needed to do and we did it. That’s what I’d like to see from an offense or a defense or any part of your team for that matter, to make the critical plays that you need to make to win the game. That’s really what it’s all about, not a bunch of stats. That’s not what winning is about – winning is about making the plays you need to make to win the game.

Q: Defensively you guys gave up a number of big plays in the early part of the season and that has not happened lately. Were you always confident that as the season went on and guys got comfortable that the defense would be as solid as it has been the last several games?

BB: Again, I think you just keep preparing and working every week. You try to get better every single week. It doesn’t make any difference how well or not well you’re doing. Each week you have new opportunities to improve and to start all over again on a new opponent and make the outcome what you want it to be that week. I think that’s really what this team has done every week. Every week we’ve taken those opportunities and tried to improve ourselves individually and as a team and with each unit. I think the defense has done that. We’ve had some better results recently statistically. We’ve continued to win. So, I think if we continue to work hard and prepare hard and everybody tries to do a little bit better job at their job and with their unit within the defense and defensively as a total group, we improve our communication and execution and all those things that we have to do then we’ll play better next week than we played this week. It doesn’t mean the points or the yardage or the sacks or anything else is going… we just play better as a unit and that’s what our goal is – to improve every week.

Q: It seemed like Matthew Slater had a standout day in the coverage game. He is always good but can you talk about his day yesterday?

BB: I thought he did an excellent job yesterday. He was really good for us. We only had the one kickoff and he was there on that play even though Niko [Koutouvides] really made the first hit on that. Overall in the punt coverage, he did a real good job. [Marcus] Thigpen is, as we know, an excellent returner. He’s strong and he’s fast and Slate was able to make those plays and not really let him get started, which you always love to see from your gunner. I thought he played extremely well; played hard. He got hit on that first kickoff return, our first kickoff return, he got banged up a little bit but he came back in and did everything and played well and was very productive. I thought he had an outstanding game for us. He really helped our field position and our punt coverage.

Q: In a game where the offense was not able to flip the field, did that make his effort even more valuable given the circumstances?

BB: Yeah, absolutely. The situation there in the third quarter, [Brandon] Fields did a great job for them of punting the ball out. They got one inside the 20 and we moved it out and I think we ended up with a touchback and they punted us out on the two and we made a first down, got a holding penalty but at least we were able to get the ball back out to midfield and then get a defensive stop. They were far enough outside of field goal range when we got the defensive stop that we got the ball back without giving up any points. So, sure, in a tight game like that, field position is so critical. Between the punting and the coverage, I thought Zoltan [Mesko] was backed up a couple times and got the ball out of there pretty well, probably his best punt was the one that didn’t count on the roughing the punter. But his punting and Slater’s coverage, in a tight field position game like that was huge, absolutely.

PATRIOTS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR/QUARTERBACKS COACH JOSH McDANIELS

CONFERENCE CALL

December 3, 2012

Q: With 8:28 left on the clock, you had rushed for about 55 yards on the day. Then you finish off the game with 53 more rushing yards and took over seven minutes off the clock. What did you see differently from your offense on that last drive that allowed you to execute? And secondly, do you think the conditioning of your line stood out to you yesterday in those hot conditions late in the game?

JM: I think that any time you're used to playing in cooler temperatures with certainly a lot less humidity than what we played with yesterday, you hope your football team is well conditioned enough to go down there and handle whatever amount of plays you have to play in that kind of weather late in the year. I think that really did become a positive for us that we were able to execute and do some things later in the game after playing a number of snaps offensively. I thought that was a credit to our guys and the conditioning and work that they’ve put in to be able to be in that position and do that. As far as what happened on that drive, not a whole lot in terms of schematics that we changed. There were maybe a few things that we decided to do a little bit more of on that drive, but all in all I think it was just execution up front, trying to give the back an opportunity to get started. I thought the backs made some really, really good runs on that last drive to keep us in positive down and distance situations and convert some first downs for us. And I thought the line and the tight ends did a nice job of getting people covered up to allow that to happen. I think you’re sitting on the sidelines and you know it’s a close game, you know it’s a tight game, and really what you're focused on is going out there and playing your best football when you need it the most – at the end. I thought our guys really stepped up and handled that challenge at that time.

Q: What needs to happen with the offense to get Brandon Lloyd a little more involved in terms of catching passes?

JM: I think that’s really a function of a lot of things. Brandon certainly played hard and has played hard all year. There have been games where we’ve targeted him a lot. And there have been other games where based on the way somebody may play us, we target him less and the ball may go somewhere else. I think Brandon keeps doing his job and trying to execute his assignments well. We’ve never been a team that likes to force the ball to one person or another, although it may seem like that at times because certainly players get targeted more in certain games. Really, the biggest emphasis point we try to make to our group is to try to find the guy who’s open or who the defense doesn’t take away and to get him the football. Tom usually does a good job of that. Yesterday, certainly, he didn’t have a lot of action in the passing game, but hopefully that will change, or could change, based on the way we get defended. He's done a good job of running good routes and getting open and being available when his opportunities present themselves. He’ll continue to do that; I know him. And hopefully we call things that give him an opportunity to get the ball, and then when that’s really where we should go with it, hopefully Tom finds him and we connect.

Q: How would you describe the Texans defensive style and how they use J.J. Watt and the challenge of blocking him?

JM: Coach [Wade] Phillips does a great job and any defense that he's coached has always been a big challenge for us or any other team and this one certainly is no different. This is an aggressive team that plays physical, tough defense. I think they play fast. They play very hard up front and do a lot of really good things with their front three or four depending on whether they're in base or in a sub-mode. Obviously they do a great job in terms of trying to take care of the running game; I think they’re second in the NFL. They're top five in fewest points allowed. They're certainly a good situational football team. Third down, red zone defense is excellent. And they’ve created turnovers and put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, so I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this is going to be a big challenge for us. They have talented players at every level of their defense and they’re obviously very well coached, so we’re going to have to do a great job in preparing for them this week. With J.J. Watt, obviously he's having a great year and obviously he's a great player no matter where they line him up. The fact that they move him a little bit inside and outside, we’re going to have to have more than one guy ready to handle him and block him. It won’t just fall to the guard or to the tackle. It could be anybody at times, based on the way they play him. We have to do a great job of trying to simulate his effort, his motor and some of the things he does to disrupt people in the running game and the passing game and have to make sure we’re very mindful of taking care of the football and not letting him get his hands on balls, because he's certainly created a lot of disruptive opportunities for them defensively by tipping the ball and batting the ball up in the air. [I’ve] got a ton of respect for him, their entire defense, certainly Coach Phillips and their defensive staff. We’re really looking forward to the challenge this week.

Q: What has turned in the right direction for Daniel Fells to contribute to this team now after being a healthy scratch earlier in the year?

JM: Well, there’s always a lot of consideration that we put into how we’ll play the game, and along with making those determinations, you have to consider how you would play the game if you lost a specific player and it maybe bumped you out of a package or two. For some of those games, I think if we would have lost Rob, it would have probably been more of a three-receiver game or some other combination of personnel groupings. We had a few games there where [Visanthe] Shiancoe was kind of in the mix in terms of playing a role there to help us in his role and back up certainly positions there as well. I think it’s just really a matter of a decision on how to play the game or how to handle the game if you incur an injury at a certain position. I think he’s done a nice job with his opportunities. He's certainly played a lot of snaps the last two weeks. Like all of us yesterday, we could do things better. We could play better, coach better, and I think that would apply to all of our players and coaches. We’re going to try to do a better job going forward. But he has been ready to go and obviously he's helped us significantly the last two weeks.

Q: You mentioned calling plays for certain guys earlier. This may be way too broad of a question, but is it easier to call a passing play for a slot receiver or a tight end than maybe it might be to draw up a play to get the ball to an outside receiver because he's farther way from the line of scrimmage? Or am I just throwing stuff against the wall on that one?

JM: There might be some things on the wall there, but really, the passing game comes down to execution and reading the coverage and trying to find the softest spots in the defense. That's really – I don’t want to try to oversimplify that, but really and truly, that’s what it comes down to. If they give us an opportunity to use the people in the middle of the field, then you have to be able to throw the ball in there and take advantage of it. If they force the ball to the perimeter, you need to be able to take advantage of those too. Sometimes I think also, based on the patterns that you're running, somebody is usually running a shorter route and somebody is usually running a deeper route. Sometimes you read those things and if the shorter route is open, you throw him the ball. If the shorter route is covered, then you wait and throw the deeper route. Sometimes I really think it has to do with the progression that the quarterback goes through or the coverage that the defense plays. Hopefully, most of the time our quarterback does a good job reading that out and getting the ball to the softest part of the defense.

Q: In games like yesterday where the offense doesn’t put up the numbers that we’re accustomed to, how encouraging is it when the defense does step up and take some of the pressure off the offense in a sense?

JM: Every win or every game we go into certainly is a team, complementary game. Yesterday was a great example of a team win. We’ve had a lot of those this year; we certainly didn’t play perfectly in any game this year and are trying to do the best we can. And the defense really has made a lot of plays for us all season long: set us up with great field position with turnovers, given us opportunities to get the ball in plus-field position a number of times this year, and/or scored themselves. Same thing goes for the kicking game. I think we go into every week talking about playing a complementary game and we need to try to do the right things to help our defense and special teams out, and they always try to do the same things for us. I think yesterday was a good example of a team win. I’m very proud to be a part of that and to have a chance to win the [AFC] East and go undefeated so far in our division. That’s a great thing and our team really earned it yesterday.

PATRIOTS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MATT PATRICIA

CONFERENCE CALL

December 3, 2012

Q: How were you able to contain Davone Bess yesterday, particularly with Kyle Arrington matched up on him most of the time? Can you talk about the job Kyle was able to do against him yesterday?

MP: Sure, obviously Bess is a great player for them, a very productive receiver and obviously a key part of that offense. They have a lot of good skill players so it’s a great challenge for us to play against them every time we face them. In general like always we have some different schemes and stuff that we played coverage-wise and Kyle Arrington plays inside a little bit in those schemes and did a good job for us handling the assignment he had to do and the job he had to do. It was really a good job by him.

Q: Despite having a number of players unavailable in yesterday’s game against the Dolphins, how was the defense able to apply pressure, particularly with the individual efforts of a guy like Trevor Scott?

MP: I think every week different guys have to step up in different roles and be able to handle the assignments they are given and perform at the highest level so whoever that is—Trevor had a couple of really nice plays and did a good job for us out there. We had a number of different guys playing in the front and all of them contributed in their own way, particularly some stuff that might not necessarily be seen in the final stats or in the individual statistics. But all the guys were doing their job and doing the things they’re supposed to do to either create some penetration or some pressure themselves or free it up for their teammates. It’s like every week we have guys that are playing and guys that aren’t playing and it’s just part of the process every week. Everyone just has to step up and handle their role or their assignment that week to the best of their ability and obviously Trevor did a great job, but really all those guys up front tried to do that.

Q: The defense has improved as the season has gone on. Have you been confident all along that the unit would continue to improve as the season went on?

MP: As a coach I think we’re always going to sit here and tell you that we’re trying to improve every week and that’s our goal. Hopefully we can do that every week and we’re trying to get better and certainly as the season goes on and people play together longer and are out there with each other longer then hopefully that’s what’s taking place. There are certainly areas that we need to work on and improve on and hopefully get better at, and that’s what we try to do every week when we look at it. It’s just a situation that we know our guys are out there and like I’ve always said, our defensive guys work extremely hard, they prepare very hard every week and they really try to make sure that they can go out and execute to the best of their ability every week. It’s something we understand that is a continuing growing process and that’s what we’re looking for is to try to get better at the things every week that maybe the week before we didn’t do so well at.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in preparing for a balanced offense like the Houston Texans have?

MP: Great question. You’re talking about a very balanced, very well put together offense, exactly like you said between the run and the pass. Then the quarterback is obviously a talented player that is really doing a phenomenal job running the system they run. The biggest thing for us obviously is trying to somehow figure out how to stop this running game, which is a critical part of what they do, along with the passing game ability that they have. Their tight ends are extremely good. They use all of them, very talented players there. Obviously Andre Johnson is a phenomenal player for them outside, but really all of their skill players and wide receivers, [Kevin] Walter, you know, they all have a part in their offense that they play and they do it extremely well. I think it’s a very balanced offense just from the standpoint that the quarterback will get the ball to the appropriate receiver based on coverage or based on read for that particular play so he’s not always targeting one guy. He’s going to try to get the ball to the open receiver and that’s really what makes it difficult in the passing game and then what we talked about with the running game with these two backs that have potential for big plays at any given time if they see any crack in the defense, they really have the ability to hurt you with that. The main point of emphasis is going to do a really good job with the fundamentals here and make sure that we play good, solid team defense and being able to stop the run and the passing game and hopefully handle the guys up front to the best of our ability and try to do a good job there.

Q: Jerod Mayo’s sack late in the game yesterday was a big play. Was that a called blitz or a read by Mayo? Can you elaborate on that call?

MP: In general the statement that he had there is that every play as the game continues on becomes the next biggest play. I think every play is a big play for us in those situations, especially given the point in the game that we’re at. We’re obviously looking to execute everything at the highest level that we can on those particular plays. A couple of our calls have some different built-in adjustments to it or whatever the particular case may be. Jerod just really made a good play on that. All the plays leading up to that were important for us to try to keep them to as minimal points as possible, so it was just a good play.

Q: Would it be accurate to say that the frequency of blitzing has increased over the last few games?

MP: Every game for us is independent of each other. We try to carry a balanced game plan no matter what we do. We have different calls for different situations so it doesn’t really generate a statistic thing, it’s just kind of, each week is its own entity as far as different things we’re trying to do and obviously dictated by the opponent that we’re playing. We just try to keep it as balanced as we can.